Explosions and Alerts Cause Mass Disruption

There have been explosions near the railway stations in Leeds and Doncaster, and two controlled explosions have been carried out in Stoke. Sections of motorway have also been closed, while police search for more devices.

Crewe and Stoke-on-Trent stations were also evacuated after warnings. There's widespread disruption to rail services and to road networks in the area. Parts of the M6 motorway in Staffordshire and Lancashire have been closed.

A police helicopter was used to help search for suspect packages on the 27-mile stretch of motorway in Staffordshire. The southbound stretch from Junctions 14 to 13 of the M6 was re-opened to traffic just after 11.30am local time, but the motorway remained closed between junctions 13 and 16 northbound.

The motoring organisations report considerable traffic disruption across northern England, with Leeds city centre gridlocked, and long tailbacks building up on the M1 and M621 as vehicles divert from the M6.

M6: cleared

Hellawell: "cowards"

West Yorkshire's police chief, Keith Hellawell, said his officers were treating the explosion near Leeds station as a terrorist attack.

"I just feel that what we have got here is the worst form of criminal activity. It causes disruption to the police ... but it causes more disruption to the people of the community and it puts fear into the community.

"Why don't these people take on the forces of the military rather than innocent civilians? To me this was an act of extreme cowardice."

Politicians assumed immediately that the IRA was resonsible for the disruption. The Prime Minister said it showed their usual contempt for people's lives and property.

Labour's deputy leader, John Prescott, condemned what was happening. He said on the BBC's Election Call  programme that all parties should adopt a united front in the face of terrorism.

The Liberal Democrat leader, Paddy Ashdown, heard about the trouble while campaigning in Taunton.

"If the IRA believe that today they can bomb and then sue for peace tomorrow, they will get a resounding raspberry from the British people and every single member of the political parties that are represented in this election," he said.

"The IRA have committed another yet another cowardly and futile act."